An operator of a suburban Detroit human trafficking operation based in massage parlors faces six felony counts and decades in prison for her alleged crimes.
A 60-year-old female Chinese national will stand trial for allegedly engaging in human trafficking through the operation of multiple Detroit-area massage parlors.
According to a Jan. 7 announcement by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Huazi Piao was arrested in December 2024 for allegedly conducting “commercial sex operations” in at least two massage parlors in Wayne County.
Nessel said the arrest was the result of an investigation launched last summer into an alleged international human trafficking ring that eventually “led to the liberation of several women from the horrors they endured.”
Investigators from the Department of Homeland Security, Michigan State Police, and the St. Clair Shores Police Department, as well as several other local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, cooperated with prosecutors from the Michigan Attorney General’s office in carrying out the successful bust and indictment, Nessel said.
Last year, Michigan ranked 12th in the nation for most human trafficking cases, with three reported cases of human trafficking per 100,000 people.
Michigan’s large cities, such as Detroit and Grand Rapids, its extensive state and interstate highway system, vast agricultural land, and many border crossings into Canada make the Great Lakes State an attractive location for human trafficking.
It is estimated that 199,000 instances of human trafficking occur in the United States every year. The vast majority of victims are female, and one in every five victims is believed to be a child.
Children are most often used for begging, sex, and the production of child pornography, as well as other forms of forced labor.
Mississippi leads the nation with almost eight reported instances of human trafficking per 100,000 residents, followed by the District of Columbia with just over six.
Massachusetts had the fewest reported cases with 1.32 per 100,000 residents.
Piao is scheduled to appear in the Third Circuit Court of Wayne County on Jan. 13.
According to a report in the Detroit News, as of Jan. 7, circuit court records did not list an attorney for Piao.
By Steven Kovac
